The three main U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs on Thursday and Friday as optimism about the economy rose after President Donald Trump vowed to make a major tax announcement in the next few weeks. The S&P 500 has surged 8.3 percent since Trump's Nov. 8 election, fueled by expectations he will lower corporate taxes, reduce regulations and increase infrastructure spending. The rally had stalled amid concerns over Trump's protectionist stance and lack of clarity on policy reforms.

NEW YORK/NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Boeing Co faces its first union vote on Wednesday at its aircraft factory in South Carolina, a high-profile test for organized labor in the nation's most strongly anti-union state. The world's largest planemaker is running a hardball campaign against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which is trying to organize about 3,000 workers at one of two plants where Boeing makes 787 Dreamliners. The other, in Washington state, has long been unionized by the IAM.

Aon could get up to $500 million more based on future performance, as part of the deal. London-headquartered Aon said it expected the deal to improve its return on invested capital and add to adjusted earnings per share in 2018. Proceeds from the deal after tax are expected to be about $3 billion, subject to customary working capital and other adjustments, Aon said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 rose on Friday after major U.S. banks kicked off the fourth-quarter earnings season with strong results, making investors more confident about heady valuations after a recent market rally, while the Nasdaq closed at a record.

Apple climbed 1.1 percent after Canada's Competition Bureau did not find sufficient evidence the iPhone maker had engaged in anti-competitive conduct, closing a two-year investigation into the company. Wall Street has been on a tear since Trump won the U.S. election in November, with the Dow up 9 percent as investors bet he will stimulate the economy with lower taxes and infrastructure spending.

Oil prices settled slightly lower on Friday, the year's last trading day, but attained their biggest annual gain since 2009, after OPEC and partners agreed to cut output to reduce a supply overhang that has depressed prices for two years. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $53.72 a barrel, while Brent fell 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $56.82. Oil prices have slumped since the summer of 2014 from above $100 a barrel.

A Shanghai court ordered two Chinese firms to pay Walt Disney Co and Pixar more than 1.35 million yuan ($194,440) compensation for copying parts of their hit movies “Cars” and “Cars 2”, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. The ruling is the latest in a slew of intellectual property wins for large foreign firms, who have complained about widespread copyright infringement in China. Disney and Pixar took the Chinese firms to court saying the characters, titles and posters from local animation “The Autobots” were substantially similar to those from “Cars” and “Cars 2”.

After a late-year rally fueled by the U.S. election pushed stocks to surprising new peaks, investors are wary that the market could be primed for a spill to start 2017. From here, though, investors expect the S&P 500 to rise by mid-single-digits in 2017, according to a Reuters poll earlier this month. Meanwhile, a market lifted in part by hopes for Trump's policy agenda could be deflated should any of those hopes be dented once he begins in office.